Lately I have been thinking about narrativizing visual language of Mughal art. Which is a weird way of saying I want to talk about Mughal art telling stories. Which is even more of a weird way of saying I am beginning to see a future article in which I, a historian of text, looks.
Looking seems to be the motif of the summer, in retrospect.
In any event, gentle readers, I (@sepoy) tweeted a number of images which are helpfully storified here by CM Intern (to be disclosed soon) and CM Head Archivist (@salmaan_H). The article will most certainly look something like this.
I look forward to the piece -- these images are fantastic (the Dutch one from 1667 is soooo cool). As an aside, I only read Eaton's book on eight Deccan lives a year or two ago, and it is very good indeed, and reminded me of a CM post a few years ago (around the time Dalrymple's book on the Last Mughal/1857 was published) about historiography and accessible writing: Eaton's "A Social History of the Deccan" is among the most readable academic works of history I have read in years. In particular, Eaton is able to convey both that which is representative or illustrative (of the wider context) in the lives he selects; as well as their remarkable individuality (most memorably in the chapters on Mahmud Gawan, Malik Ambar, and Tarabai). Anyone know of any full-length biographies of Ambar or the others?